By Morning people, please read this information
I’m motivated to exercise in the mornings.
I don’t have time available during the evening for exercise.
Too much of a good thing can turn sour
Making excuses later in the evenings is a habit of mine.
However, I feel that my reasons are quite legitimate.
I’m a mum; I work full time and studying for a graduate certificate in IT. That’s a lot to do daily- mornings are my special time slots.
An hour and a half is time for ‘me’, where I work out and set myself up for a productive and busy day.
When I wake up — it’s pretty early.
Usually, I need about 20 minutes to gather my brain from a sleepy mess.
Then I grab hot water with lemon, ginger, and a nice, black, dark-filtered coffee!
Without these two drinks — I can’t reach my front door, let alone the gym’s entrance.
Caffeine does more than wake us up; it also boosts cognitive and physical performance. Several well-known studies prove this (to be exact, about 800).
You don’t have to resort to coffee only.
Perhaps you are more of a tea drinker. What about green tea too? Both options contain caffeine and are good enough for a pre-workout boost.
Without caffeine, how can anyone get through a tough workout?
Caffeine helps endurance, sprinting ability, and strength (lifting heavy weights) and helps you push further.
That’s a perfect environment for muscular growth and boosting your metabolism.
As much as I love caffeine, there isn’t much evidence (based on research) to speculate what could result from drinking far too much of the stuff.
Adults can get away with about 3mg per kg of body weight. For a 70–80kg man, that accumulates about 200 milligrams of caffeine.
Coffee types have different caffeine levels
Well, it depends.
Every person reacts differently toward certain types of coffee.
Some will be naturally a lot more sensitive to others. Unlike someone else, you may need many more shots to perk you up in the morning.
I think I’m talking about myself here!
Identical amounts of coffee will result in different outcomes.
Coffee pods from Nespresso have vastly different caffeine content than a professional coffee machine.
Ice coffee contains a lot of caffeine, so if your gut is sensitive to it, tread easy and save your cups during the day.
If you decide to head down the pre-workout beverage, most vary widely regarding ingredients and caffeine levels.
You won’t be able to predict how much impact the dose of caffeine will have on your mood, and you might become dehydrated, dizzy, develop a headache and become anxious in the process.
Try to go without caffeine; then, those notorious side effects will start to take hold of you.
You could assume that if you need a coffee every morning to start your day, you have an addiction!
I know I have, and I’m not sorry at all.
But I see a point in all this talk about caffeine because sometimes we have too much.
Sports performance is one thing, but using it to keep us awake because we didn’t bother to get enough sleep or eat well is another.
We may get away with treating caffeine as some great energy-boosting drug.
In saying that, keep your pre-workout caffeine strategy because it does help, but be mindful of how much coffee you indulge in daily.
Perhaps it’s better to get to bed earlier so you don’t need a hit during that 3 pm slump. Or you are maybe resorting to some green or herbal tea in the afternoons is a better option.
Try a few alternatives and see how they impact your energy, concentration and focus.
I aim to have four shots of coffee daily — and that’s it.
My morning coffee is the biggest boost; I have one before my workout. After that, I rarely have more, although I occasionally have an espresso at 2–3 pm.
Do you think your coffee habits have gone too far? How many shots do you have daily?
Please help support all the wonderful writers on this platform by subscribing to Medium here. It helps to encourage writers like myself who want to make a positive difference in people’s lives.
You can also follow me on YouTube for the latest, science-backed research on health, weight and weight training, and an endless supply of healthy recipes.
You may also like to download my FREE Fat Loss Recipe book.
I appreciate your support.